Serbia's Main Censor

Bozovic's conflict with the POLITIKA Publishing House last week culminated to melting point. POLITIKA had completed it transformation into a share-holding company a few days previously, yet the Bozovic Government quickly proposed a law on nationalizing this large firm last Thursday. SPO (Serbian Renewal Movement) MP Mihajlo Markovic repeated at least five times during the Parliament debate that this law was ordered at night, by phone from 33 Tolstojeva St. (President Milosevic's residence), even though it looks like part of a global undertaking.

In the same street as the POLITIKA building, another media house is fighting its decisive battle. Radio B 92, which thousands of Belgraders applauded support to at the beginning of July, is about to have its frequency taken away.

The tension was great and the debate on this issue heated. The opposition saw its chance to restate for the liberation of the media. It opted for the obstructive long speech technique, which will probably diminish the action's propaganda effect. So many public figures reacted that some claimed the opposition was winning the next elections in the Parliament Hall.

POLITIKA, which started to remember its editorials on the freedom of the press, published in its first issue in 1907, is now the target of the main political conflict in Serbia. Slobodan Raketic, leader of the SPO parliamentary group, read the telegram sent by POLITIKA's staff, in which they asked the Serbian Parliament to wait for the adoption of the Federal Law on Information, otherwise POLITIKA's four thousand employees will go on strike.

The Government tried to prove that POLITIKA's nationalization what just a problem of an economic nature, but the opposition claimed that the Government was trying to consolidate its political control over the press.

It is not clear whether the rebellion, which was fermenting in POLITIKA, exploded because of the new Panic-Cosic option or because the intellectual circles rallied around DEPOS (Democratic Movement of Serbia) crystalized an atmosphere of resistance to the regime. Bozovic expressed reservations twice lately regarding Yugoslav Prime Minister Panic's intention to introduce speedy privatization, which he assessed would lead to large unemployment.

It is clear that Bozovic wanted to place an iron hand on the media in Serbia, which only lays bare Milosevic's intent to outmaneuver a possible agreement with the opposition on a round table.

Federal Minister for Education Ivan Ivic said that the amendments to the draft Law on the University, in effect, nullify the University's autonomy. This is only a drop. The Government, obviously, wants to use the summer holidays to break up the movement initiated at the University. The first move was to refuse wages to some professors who joined the strike. By selective elimination, the Government is trying to cause a rift in which it would mediate, later.

One regime is losing its nerve, it is passing decrees on respect for the order by summary procedure, it is tottering and coving in. Clashes are now breaking out in the highest echelons of that regime.

Milosevic paid a visit to southern Serbia last Wednesday. He made a speech in Leskovac which got great coverage. Kosovo was not a major topic of the speech, as was expected after the talks with Lord Carrington. One presumed that Milosevic would try and homogenize the Serbs, refusing to yield in Kosovo and that he would use that as propaganda. But his speech in Leskovac was devoted to attacking the Serbian opposition which he called "right-wing".

The SPO released a statement, regarding the speech and the nationalization of POLITIKA, saying that there was no doubt that this is the last offensive of a shaken regime to preserve its own position.

Milosevic even criticized the ruling party of being arrogant and passive when it should oppose the opposition. This could hardly have been an attack directed against the President of the SPS (Socialist Party of Serbia) Borisav Jovic. However, he recognized himself and replied that Slobodan Milosevic's criticism was vague, and that it will do damage to both the SPS and Milosevic. Such formulations were used up to now only when somebody was up for elimination.